Rep. Schmidt: "Securing Levees Across the Nation"

Via email:

Last week, I introduced the National Levee Safety Program Act of 2007. Following the terrible devastation of Hurricane Katrina, we know how important reliable hurricane and flood protection is, not only in the coastal states, but here in Ohio and in many states across the country.

Congress has taken steps in the past to ensure that the nation's dams were properly inventoried, inspected, and assessed. In 1986, Congress authorized "the National Dam Safety Program Act" to conduct an inventory and assessment of all dams nationwide. "The National Levee Safety Program Act" is modeled after this successful program and law.

Thanks to the Dam Safety Program Act, we know a great deal more about our nation's dams. When it comes to our nation's levees, however, we do not know nearly enough. We do not know exactly how many levees there are in the United States , how old they are, and who constructed them and how or who is responsible for their operation and maintenance. Much of this is due to the fact that levees have been built for decades by different entities, at different times, and to different standards.

Here in the Second District, we have three important levees built by the Corps of Engineers providing flood protection to Cincinnati , Portsmouth , and New Boston.

But there has never been a national inventory of levees. I am introducing this legislation so we can develop such an inventory and work with the states to encourage them to develop their own levee safety programs.

My legislation authorizes the Army Corps of Engineers to conduct inventory, inspections, and assessments of all levees nationwide. It also establishes an Interagency Committee on Levee Safety to create standards for federal levees, and creates a National Levee Safety Advisory Board made up of state, local, and private officials to advise the Committee on Levee Safety on the safety of levees in the United States, the implementation of this Act by state levee safety agencies, and policy relating to national levee safety. The bill also provides incentives for states and localities to participate in the program.

The National Levee Safety Program Act builds on my efforts in the last Congress encouraging states and local jurisdictions to work together to establish modern, statewide building codes which help mitigate costly future natural disasters, improving public safety and hopefully saving lives as well as taxpayer dollars. Similarly, creating an inventory of our levees is a valuable way for us to reduce the likelihood of costly, unforeseen future disasters.

This legislation would ensure the Corps maintains an up-to-date assessment of these levees while it also builds a broader inventory of levees throughout our nation that were built by non-federal stakeholders.

Furthermore, this legislation is fiscally responsible. In order to make the best investment of taxpayer dollars, we need to do an inventory, an inspection, and an assessment of levees across the United States . We need to know what they are protecting and what level of risk is associated with them. This should help us prioritize future spending on flood protection so we will not only protect citizens, but spend taxpayer dollars more wisely.

I look forward to shepherding the National Levy Safety Program Act to the House floor, and hope the whole House considers it in April. The old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure has never been more true.